by Rodgydodge »
Mon Apr 10, 2017 11:04 am
Hi I've just received an email from B&Q
[Thank you for your email dated the 6th April 2017. We apologise for the delay in our response.
The ‘wall odour phenomenon’ briefly referred to by Watchdog is one that is known to have existed in the global paint industry for a number of years. In the UK, it is accepted by both industry bodies – the Paint Research Association (PRA) and British Coatings Federation (BCF) – that instances of ‘wall odour phenomenon’ is an industry-wide challenge that affects a very small number of customers purchasing paint from a range of different manufacturers.
This ‘wall odour phenomenon’ presents itself as an ammonia-type smell, and is caused by bacteria or chemicals present on the surface of walls before painting. In exceptional circumstances, odour issues can arise when affected walls are painted, and particularly when there is direct sunlight on the wall and a draught in the room. Independent tests show that this is not in any way caused by or related to the quality or formulation of the paint products, and that there are no health and safety side effects.
Customers should not be alarmed by this. ‘Wall odour phenomenon’ is an extremely rare occurrence and affects only around 0.001% of customers. It is also easily prevented or rectified by applying an alkali resisting sealer to the wall before painting. However, if anyone is concerned that their walls may be presenting the issue, or would like to find out more about how to prevent ‘wall odour phenomenon’ from occurring, we would encourage them to contact their paint manufacturer’s customer service team directly for further advice.
If you wash your walls down with Sugar Soap, this should eliminate the odour.
Thank you for contacting B&Q.
Kind regards,
Kirsty Henderson B&Q Customer Services
+44(0) 333 014 3098
b&qcustomerservices@b-and-q.co.uk]
This looks like they are washing their hands of all litigation with the help of some of industry standards! I will try washing the walls first with sugar soap before taking it any further. I'm still waiting for Valspar to reply so watch this space. I hope this isn't a fob off from B&Q. To be fair, I usually do wash all the walls down first anyway before decorating but on this occasion we where pushed for time to get it done and I skipped the process lack of good preparation skills on my part, so I smack my hands. If sugar soap does kill all the so called bacteria and the smell goes then I would recommend all paint suppliers to put up this heeded warning so the general public are aware of the issue. Sadly I wasn't I'm now going to read all preparation instructions on the tin see if it says anything about bacteria on there. I've been doing my own decorating since completing my City & Guilds in the mid '90s and this is the first time I've heard about this problem.